Alternative credentials: one in four adults holds a certification, license or certificate

A college degree is not be the only way to acquire and develop the right skills to succeed in today's economy. Many individuals have acquired professional accreditations to advance in the job market.

That's the latest finding of the U.S. Census Bureau, which released estimates that more than 50
million U.S. adults, or one in four of the working-age population, has obtained a professional
certification, license or educational certificate apart from a
post-secondary degree awarded by a college or university. The bureau reports that 12
million adults had both a professional certification or license and an
educational certificate; 34 million had only a professional
certification or license; and 7 million had only an educational
certificate.

The fields of these professional
certifications and licenses were wide-ranging and include
business/finance management, nursing, education, cosmetology and
culinary arts, among others.

In a fast-changing economy, new skillsets are constantly in demand. Areas in hot demand right now -- such as data science and analysis, cloud development, and open-source scripting languages -- were not even around five years ago. Corporate training departments are having difficulty keeping up, and returning to college is too expensive and time-consuming an option for job-seekers.

"Getting an academic degree is not the only way for people to develop skills that pay off in the labor market. We've been able to measure
for the first time how many people take another route to a productive
career: holding an alternative educational credential independent of
traditional college degrees. It turns out that millions of people have
taken this path."

The
report also shows that alternative credentials potentially provide a
path to higher earnings. Among full-time workers, the median monthly
earnings for someone with a professional certification or license only
was $4,167, compared with $3,110 for people without any alternative credential. While there was little difference for those with bachelor's degrees and certifications, a certification, license or certificate made a difference for those with no formal college degree.

About three-quarters of professional certifications and licenses
were required for the current or most recent job. More than 90 percent
of these credential holders took training or courses and had to
demonstrate on-the-job skills or pass a test or exam in order to earn
them. People working in technical occupations were the most likely to hold an alternative credential (71 percent).